Implementing a Project Management Approach for your Busy Life
- Sara Rafuse
- Jun 2, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 26, 2024
For years we've coached clients who feel overwhelmed by the amount on their plate. Business owners, students, busy parents; these clients often have one thing in common-- they have what feels like a million to-dos in their heads. When everything feels like a priority, it’s easy to find yourself in a rut, spinning your wheels.
In our coaching sessions we invite you to look at your life through a different lens; that of a project manager. Project managers view the job at hand from many different perspectives including all of the components and variables that will come into play. They put together a game plan, often in the form of a timeline. They write everything out and they adjust when needed. A good project manager leaves nothing up to chance.
We help our coaching clients to do the same; to take dedicated time (think 30 minutes to an hour) to project manage their life. This isn't time to work on any one task-- this is a dedicated planning session. If you are feeling overwhelmed by what feels like the crushing weight of all the priorities in your life, we want to share the steps we use to help our clients.
We include a number of free resources and tools that we use with our clients in this post. However, if you are interested in engaging in accountability coaching, we invite you to book a free discovery session so together we can determine if coaching is the right fit for you!
Taking our project management approach can reduce feelings of stress and anxiety as well as help combat any inactivity. Gather together a pencil, some different colored pens, a couple of sheets of paper, and let's go!
Step One: The brain dump. On a blank sheet of paper physically write out all of the tasks that are on your mind. These are the big projects, little tasks, and every single thing in between. If you have a bunch of little lists everywhere, the goal is to get them all on to one sheet of paper in one place. Caution: This first step is going to be messy! If you are a perfectionist who hates mess, you will really need to lean in and trust the process. Use pencil here if you are the type of person who doesn't like a scribble. GET. IT. ALL. OUT. Once it is written down, it can stop swirling around in your brain.
Sometimes the tasks, projects and to-dos fit on a standard size 8.5" x 11" piece of paper. However, we've worked with clients in the past who have benefitted from using large chart paper/poster sized sheets for this step. You can use whatever you have on hand! Don't be afraid to tape a few sheets together if your list overflows.
Notice how your body feels as you brain dump. Often clients share that they feel their shoulders relax and their worry lessen as they get everything down on paper.
Step Two: Assign target dates/due dates. This is an important step, and one that should not be skipped. Some of your tasks or projects may already have deadlines you're working up against. Write them next to each task, preferably in red. These are your hard deadlines. In a different color determine some target completion dates for tasks that do not have built in due dates. These might get adjusted as your planning continues, but they are a place to start.
If you have a large project written down on your brain dump, take time during this step to break it into smaller, more manageable chunks. For some clients this step is second nature. If you struggle, however, there are resources to help! One of our favorites is Goblin.Tools which uses AI to help break things down.
Let's say, for example, you need to pack for a week long work trip. You type that into the top bar of the site where it says "add new item." The number of chilis on the right will indicate how much "breaking down" you would like the site to help you with. You can move this sliding scale; the more chilis you select the more steps it will give! Hit the blue plus sign and then hit the magic wand on the right. Your project is now broken down into steps.
From there you can use the magic wand next to each task to break individual steps into smaller chunks. So, for example, if you know you will struggle to pack appropriate clothing items, you can ask the site to break that step into smaller chunks:
Is it perfect every time? Absolutely not. It does, however, give you an awesome place to start.
Once your larger projects are broken down into simpler steps or tasks, write them on your sheet and assign each a target completion date. It might be easiest to start with the last step (completing the project) and work backwards. Think about how long each task will take (if you are using goblin tools, the three dots on the right can help you estimate); some may be more time consuming than others.
Step Three: Take your brain dump with the dates written beside the tasks and put them in chronological order like a timeline. This can be left to right or top to bottom. Do this on a fresh sheet of paper.
During this step pay close attention to pinch points, or times when it looks like there might be a little too much going on to realistically manage. This is the step where everything comes together. If it looks unrealistic, pump the brakes. Prioritize the red dates and consider how you might shift the dates that are in the other color. Can they move up? Can they be moved back? How can you spread things out a little more?
Step Four: Now that you've created your timeline, it's time to start prioritizing what you will complete when. We suggest using a weekly template like the one we've created to use with our coaching clients, you can download it here for free:
Your goal is to create a sense of urgency for each task. Start with the items from your timeline that are due this week, while also being mindful of what is coming up next week. Our most successful clients think of their time/work in two week chunks-- always thinking in terms of this week and next week. With this week and next week as your main focus, create your prioritized list for the week.
If you need help prioritizing each day, ask yourself what is the most urgent task that needs to get done? That becomes priority number one. Sometimes it is a task that is in the way of making progress, sometimes it is something that is absolutely due that day. What tasks, if any, could wait until tomorrow if they had to? They are your last priority and belong at the bottom of the list.
Make your list for the day, then move on to the rest of the week. USE PENCIL with this step. It is inevitable that priorities will shift. This is like creating a roadmap-- sometimes you take a detour!
Step Five: Hang your timeline where you can see it, keep your prioritized list out in the open where you consistently come back to it, and cross things out as you go! This is yet another reason we highly recommend the physical process of writing out the tasks on your list. Not not only will checking things off help you think critically about your day as you go, but crossing things off also provides a sense of accomplishment and a small hit of dopamine for your brain! Who doesn’t want more dopamine in their life?
Step Six: Revisit the plan, be open to modifications, and try to remain flexible. The documents that you have created are working documents meant to be updated, revised, and reworked! Give yourself grace when life has presented additional obstacles. Come back to the tools often.
There you have it, our guide to becoming the project manager of your life! We hope you take advantage of all the resources in this post, and feel empowered to tackle whatever season of life you are in. If you believe individual accountability coaching could help you on your journey, make sure to sign up for a discovery session!
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